Tying your own spinners

[Northlander]

I use 10# at the least. You want something abrasion resistant and that will keep your spinner tracking straight back not wobbling around in circles. Thats why 10-16# or at times more is prefered. PLus clevis's can eat away at lines when spinners are spinning at higher speeds.

Fish dont get a good look at the line with spinners because they are moving pretty good. I use them as a agressive search tool at times and if I find a bunch of fish in 1 area with spinners I slow down and jig/rig/float them.

Lighter lines work better with very small blades or spin n glows and even the 8# is about as low as I go. Of course with lindy rigs then go with the lightest line possible. I like a 6# or 8# Floro leader.

[PerchJerker]

I agree with Northlander. Live bait rigging is finesse fishing and that's where lighter line comes into play. Spinner harnesses aren't finesse, you're moving "fast" and the spinner blade is whirling away and putting stress on the line.

[Borch]

Even at the finesse level for spinners your moving a .7 mph with beads and slow spinning blade. Walleyes don't seem to mind heavier line with this setup.

When I first started tieing spinner I used 6 or 8 lb test line and had issues with break offs and twisted line on a frequent basis. I've now settled in on 12lb copolimar line adn sometime use 14lb flourocarbon. But a high abrasion stiffer lines and work well for this application.

[Lund1700Angler]

I just tied about 15 leech and crawler harnesses using 20lb Vanish line. Last time I was fishing i had 4 rigs bit off by pike. What do you guys think about the heavier line?

[Northlander]

It will be just fine. I have tied many spinners with 20# P-line lately, because I got it dirt cheap, and its working just fine. When Im in timber or real weedy areas Im always 14# -20# test. I may even go Power Pro spinners but I like the stretch that mono gives me for when the big babies smash your spinner and rip out 10' of line before you even get your hands on the rod.

[wplatehunter]

I just started making my own spinners and lindy rigs. It is nice to be able to change color and size in the boat. I like the quick change spinner setups. This last weekend a red hook and green bead was the ticket for walleyes for me.

[blueboat]

if you bait 2 hooks, you can use just one pole where i fish, 2 poles if you bait one hook on each pole. we used to put 2 hooks on a line (3 way rigging) and still fish all the time yrs ago and even had 2 hooks on 2 poles long before the DEP was riding all over in speed boats an jet skis, we were kids then also and not taking any game fish.sunnies,cat fish,perch ect.

[h8go4s]

What do you guys use to store spinner rigs? I've used the round rubber cylinders you wrap them on and the smaller ones with velcro tabs that hold the swivel end down, but I'm always looking for a better way. A friend of mine uses small cardboard squares to wrap them on, but I'm not a big fan of that method.

Ron

[eyewarrior]

Cabelas has some nice plastic ones. 2 snells per holder. holder fits in a 3600 plano box

[rugbymn]

Lighter lines work better with very small blades or spin n glows and even the 8# is about as low as I go. Of course with lindy rigs then go with the lightest line possible. I like a 6# or 8# Floro leader.

Pardon my rookie knowledge, but I thought spinners and Lindy rigs were the same thing. What's the difference?

[JohnMickish]

Spinners have a spinner blade, some beads and a hook. Lindy rigs have a long snell, maybe one bead and a hook. Lindy rigging is a very slow finesse type fishing where fishing with spinners is done quite a bit faster for more aggressive fish.

[Northlander]

Lindy does make spinners but usually when people around these parts talk "Lindy Rigs" its a live bait rig with no spinner blade.

[lovebigbluegills]

I've noticed people posting that they use 10# test for tying thier spinners. Is this right? I thought you wanted to use lighter test line?

Personally I generally use 10lb line on my rod, and use some decent 8lb monofilament for tying my spinners. The logic being that if I happen to hook an immovable object, I'll at least get my bottom bouncer back, and I'm only out a few beads, a blade, and a clevis.

As has been mentioned, tying your own spinners is a blast, it's addictive, and it's a great way to kill some time (especially when you're waiting for fishing opener). There is absolutely no end to the combinations of colors, sizes, styles, etc of spinners you can make. I keep my spinners in little ziploc bags that I found at a bigger sporting goods store (very similar in size to a bag you'd get a spinner in if you were to buy a spinner).

Enjoy your new hobby.

[SledNeck]

I use 14 lb mono for spinners

#4 gama hooks

and these

OMG the firetiger is the best spinner Ive ever used in my life. I outfished a plain chartreuse spinner 10-1...and when he switched he was catching as many as me.

[BobT]

One of the problems I have with spinner rigs is that they attract northern pike, which of course often results in bite-offs. To combat this I use flexible stainless steel fishing line similar to American Fishing Wire to tie my spinner rigs. This seems to help and the line is thin enough the spinners still function well.

[blueboat]

I wrap all my spinner rigs, walleye worm harneses, leaders around pieces of the foam that we bought to toss in the pool for the kids to play with, right now they are 1.97 at CVS, i just cut them off in ft lengths, make all my different length leaders ect. be for i leave the house.

[GrizzlyAdams]

I am new to tying my own spinners and snells also and absolutley love it. I will cut off a long chunk of line and practice tying, cut it and retie just for the fun of it. Anyways, would any of you be willing to post some pics of your favorite choices for me to see as I will learn more from seeing these things rather than reading about them. Thanks in advance and good luck fishin. Also on a side note I am going up to Rainy Lake and using a houseboat for a week. What would be your choices for lindy's and spinners on that lake when tying for bead colors, spinner colors, etc.

[lakevet]

Any tips on making spinners more weedless? Obvious is a weedless hook, any hook preferences? Any other tips for spinner rigs for eyes in weedbeds?

lakevet

[Northlander]

Eyes and weeds are good but I troll the edges and if I find Im getting weeds I go to Gulp Crawlers and just abrely put the point of the hook through them. Fish still get hooked but weeds tend to slide off better. A bottom bouncer really helps for keeping weeds off the spinner.

As for my fav spinner it would be a #2 hammered gold colorado with big red beeds and a small red float. I havent been to a lake yet where that color scheme wont catch fish. Including rainy. Second would be a orange/chart blade and orange/chart and green beads.

[Borch]

Bottom bouncer helps a lot with the weeds.

[jigginjim]

I know a guy that fishes tourneys, ties his own spinners. Many have about 6-7"between the hooks. I'm going to start doing 3 hook rigs for fishing gulp worms and leeches.